Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) represents water and sewerage consumers in England and Wales. Our job is to make sure that the consumers’ collective voice is heard in the national water debate and that consumers remain at the heart of the water industry. We will also take up consumers’ complaints if they have tried and failed to resolve issues with their water companies.

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

Using Water Wisely in the Garden

If a glimpse of some long awaited sunshine and the prospect of the Easter break has bought out your green fingers, now could be the time to think about some easy steps to help to reduce the water industry’s carbon footprint by using water wisely in the garden.

Cut your glut with a water buttYou can still have a colourful and productive garden without using vast amounts of tap water. If you use a water butt to collect rainwater from a downpipe running from the roof, shed or greenhouse, you can use this to water your garden on dry days instead of paying to use tap water through a hosepipe.

A hosepipe can spout up to 18 litres of water per minute, and watering the lawn with a sprinkler can use up to 1000 litres of water every hour. This is the same amount of water that an average family of four uses in a day.

Water your garden wiselyWatering your plants early in the morning or late in the evening means you’ll lose less water through evaporation and target the roots of the plant where the water does most good.

A mulch of wood chips, bark or gravel can also help prevent water evaporation and keep weeds at bay which saves you time and effort later on.

Established lawns are very hardy when it comes to bouts of hot dry weather and will soon recover their greenness when it does eventually rain. Newly laid lawns may need more attention there’s a simple guide to looking after your new lawn on our website.

As well as reducing your carbon footprint, using tap water wisely in the garden will also help reduce your water bill if you have a water meter.